Ninja Zurheide

Schoonheid der dingen

The Beauty of Things
A Personal Journey in Creating Architecture 

Architects are, in a sense, a kind of director: with architecture, you can highlight certain aspects, but how the visitor ultimately experiences the space is different for everyone. Alvar Aalto expresses it beautifully in my opinion: architecture elevates something.

My graduation project is a personal quest to discover what architecture means to me and how I apply that understanding in the design process. For a long time, I thought I was purely an intuitive designer, but my graduation research taught me that there are indeed underlying reasons behind my choices.

My location is situated on the edge of Bergen, at the transition from wooded dunes to meadows. The site became a kind of research laboratory for me. I visited the place in different seasons and at various times of the day. I documented my observations through numerous photos, sketches, texts, and models.

My graduation project is not about an end result in the form of a fully designed building. This research has become a starting point for me, showing how I want architecture to be viewed—not just as fulfilling a perfect program of requirements (PVE) and adhering to regulations, but also acknowledging all the other factors that influence architecture.  

There will be rain, shadows, or wind falling on a window or wall. The way a wall, space, or material is positioned is crucial to the spatial effect. With “experience maps,” I show that materials, landscape, climatic phenomena, and nature are all part of the spatial experience. By translating these aspects into architecture, you can truly design for the experience of the visitor.

There will be rain tapping against a window, while on the other side, there won't. The way a wall, space, or material is positioned is crucial to the spatial effect it will have. . With “experience maps,” I show that materials, landscape, climatic phenomena, and nature are all part of the spatial experience. By translating these aspects into architecture and situating it within the location, you can truly design for the experience someone may have.

The majority of it happened in my imagination. I found language and notation methods to make this visible. In my imagination and with my senses, I explored the location and envisioned multiple scenarios. Models, photographs, sketches, and texts reveal a series of architectural interventions that help to grasp the essence of what architecture is.

Finally, I came to the conclusion that the phrase "architecture elevates something" doesn't fully capture it. Rather, by elevating through architecture, you make the beauty of things visible. 

Graduation date: 14 May 2024 
Graduation committee: Machiel Spaan (mentor), Ira Koers, Vibeke Gieskes
Additional members for the exam: Marlies Boterman, Marten Kuijpers